[worry]

Do any of the vaccines-cause-autism people feel betrayed?

[Tiste Simeon]

 worry, on 23 September 2025 - 02:55 PM, said:

Do any of the vaccines-cause-autism people feel betrayed?

If they had brain cells enough to understand betrayal they probably wouldn't be anti-vaxxers.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

The company that owns tylenol probably didn't donate enough to Trump... or hasn't yet.

But maybe the vaccine manufacturers did?

Tyrannall... or Tyrant-toll.

[Cause]

 Azath Vitr (D, on 23 September 2025 - 05:34 PM, said:

The company that owns tylenol probably didn't donate enough to Trump... or hasn't yet.

I would say you cracked it.

My supposition would be though that more anti-vax annoucnements from RFK can be expected to come but it needs to be slow-cooked for longer. Trumps need to be praised for operation warp speed is probably the strongest bulwark vaccines currently have in defence against the damage RFK would like to do.

[QuickTidal]

Azath Vitr (D, on 23 September 2025 - 05:34 PM, said:

The company that owns tylenol probably didn't donate enough to Trump... or hasn't yet.

But maybe the vaccine manufacturers did?

Tyrannall... or Tyrant-toll.

Oh it's easier than that....the company that makes Tylenol....is Kenvue (a spin-off of Johnson & Johnson). Kenvue makes health and beauty products like Aveeno and other stuff as well as Tylenol...

A rival of Kenvue for very similar products is called iHerb...whose main benfactor is Dr. Oz.

So I think it's more to do with trying to kill the competition of one of his sycophantic followers...

Wrong.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 24 September 2025 - 01:22 PM

[Garak]

 worry, on 23 September 2025 - 02:55 PM, said:

Do any of the vaccines-cause-autism people feel betrayed?

The comments I've seen tend to be "Watch lefties take Tylonol just to spite RFK and autism numbers skyrocket." "I think it's more than just Tylonol. But it's a good start" and so on and so forth.

[QuickTidal]

QuickTidal, on 23 September 2025 - 05:56 PM, said:

Azath Vitr (D, on 23 September 2025 - 05:34 PM, said:

The company that owns tylenol probably didn't donate enough to Trump... or hasn't yet.

But maybe the vaccine manufacturers did?

Tyrannall... or Tyrant-toll.

Oh it's easier than that....the company that makes Tylenol....is Kenvue (a spin-off of Johnson & Johnson). Kenvue makes health and beauty products like Aveeno and other stuff as well as Tylenol...

A rival of Kenvue for very similar products is called iHerb...whose main benfactor is Dr. Oz.

So I think it's more to do with trying to kill the competition of one of his sycophantic followers...

huh, I was wrong.

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 24 September 2025 - 01:22 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 23 September 2025 - 05:56 PM, said:

Azath Vitr (D, on 23 September 2025 - 05:34 PM, said:

The company that owns tylenol probably didn't donate enough to Trump... or hasn't yet.

But maybe the vaccine manufacturers did?

Tyrannall... or Tyrant-toll.

Oh it's easier than that....the company that makes Tylenol....is Kenvue (a spin-off of Johnson & Johnson). Kenvue makes health and beauty products like Aveeno and other stuff as well as Tylenol...

A rival of Kenvue for very similar products is called iHerb...whose main benfactor is Dr. Oz.

So I think it's more to do with trying to kill the competition of one of his sycophantic followers...

huh, I was wrong.

the chef's kiss of irony here is Doc Oz going on TMZ to clarify his position.

[Maark Abbott]

Band practice was a laugh last night. Singer brought up a transcript of the boats and sharks speech. Those were definitely some words.

[Cause]

Did Hegseth really gather all the generals and admirals to tell them to lose wait and call himself the secretary at war. The TV secretary of defense is obsessed with optics, shocker! Literally could have been an email.

Am I being too conspiratorial to think this was the public aspect and there will be a lot more we won’t see?

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Cause, on 30 September 2025 - 04:04 PM, said:

Did Hegseth really gather all the generals and admirals to tell them to lose wait and call himself the secretary at war. The TV secretary of defense is obsessed with optics, shocker! Literally could have been an email.

Am I being too conspiratorial to think this was the public aspect and there will be a lot more we won't see?

He also ranted at them about the evils of beards and moustaches. Really.

Of course they're lucky that no one managed to do what Israel did when Iran had a lot (not even all) of its top military personnel gathered together. And if they had all died live on television... that would have been interesting.

Oh, and Trump had some words for them:

Quote

Trump Tells Generals the Military Will Be Used to Fight 'Enemy Within'

[...]Trump, speaking to hundreds of senior military officers, hailed the use of military force to police ​U.S. cities and said some will be used as training grounds for American troops.

(Wall Street Journal)

He's sending the military into Portland, which he's absurdly calling a war zone. Well, maybe once he's through with it...

Training grounds... Portland as practice for the siege of Vancouver?...

Oh and he's talking about invading Venezuela and Afghanistan. But using Portland to train for Vancouver would make more sense.

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 30 September 2025 - 06:26 PM

[worry]

To be clear, the facial hair thing isn't some weird Mr. Burns "trim those sideburns" thing, it's a reversal of a specific decades-long accommodation. The goal of this change is to push (mostly) Black people out of the military: https://www.motherjo...r-black-troops/

The majority of Hegseth's speech -- and the policy changes that will follow -- are about making the military more straight, male, and (most importantly) white....for certain purposes that don't bode well historically.

[QuickTidal]

 worry, on 01 October 2025 - 04:57 PM, said:

To be clear, the facial hair thing isn't some weird Mr. Burns "trim those sideburns" thing, it's a reversal of a specific decades-long accommodation. The goal of this change is to push (mostly) Black people out of the military: https://www.motherjo...r-black-troops/

The majority of Hegseth's speech -- and the policy changes that will follow -- are about making the military more straight, male, and (most importantly) white....for certain purposes that don't bode well historically.

I think the thing that stood out to me most was his gym-bro "Warriors" shit about getting fit ect. Like this dry drunk chowderhead is under the impression that everyone in the US military are frontline soldiers like it's 1066 out there....instead of massive amounts of the military apparatus being logistics, engineering, IT, and all other aspects of keeping it running....like his cartoonish view of the military is that scene from the end of Braveheart....he has no idea what a modern military looks like.

And he just stood in front of however many people who not only know, but outrank and outclass him on every level and told them how stupid he fucking is.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

 worry, on 01 October 2025 - 04:57 PM, said:

To be clear, the facial hair thing isn't some weird Mr. Burns "trim those sideburns" thing, it's a reversal of a specific decades-long accommodation. The goal of this change is to push (mostly) Black people out of the military: https://www.motherjo...r-black-troops/

The majority of Hegseth's speech -- and the policy changes that will follow -- are about making the military more straight, male, and (most importantly) white....for certain purposes that don't bode well historically.

Quote

amid the extensive drafting and recruitment of Black troops during the Vietnam War, the armed forces saw growing demand for "no-shave chits," shaving waivers that covered pseudofolliculitis barbae, colloquially known as PFB or "razor bumps." The condition affects at least 60 percent of Black men and causes painful pustules on a person's face. If untreated, it can lead to infection, and in some cases, permanent scarring.

Hegseth's order states that any service members in need of a shaving waiver will be required to start a medical treatment plan to "resolve" their PFB—and if they still need a waiver after a year of treatment, the US military will discharge them.

However, medical and military sources generally concur that the only reliable treatment for PFB is not shaving. Hegseth's new policy practically guarantees an unfathomable wave of terminations

https://www.motherjo...r-black-troops/

Wow... I didn't realize that.

Trump &co probably think (most or many) Black soldiers will be less likely to support a Trump or post-Trump neo-fascist auto-coup. Especially if it leverages dog whistles for---or openly endorses---white nationalism.

[Cause]

There is also a recruitment and retention problem in the USA military. So dropping black soldiers over beards is not only stupid/racist it will literally weaken USA readiness to engage in war fighting. Aside I love Hegseths obsession with saying war fighting when rebranding soldiers as warfighters I believe comes from the war on terrorism and was to help moral and discourage the frontliners from looking down on the POGEs. They wanted everyone to understand that every soldier and every job forwards the war effort.

Watching Hegseth say ‘Move out and draw fire because we are the war department’ and pausing for non existent applause is beautiful though. However I’m not sure if this is the rebuke people want it to be. I think military decorum discourages applause at briefings and while Hegseth may have acted like he is giving a MAGA rally it would have been treated as a briefing.

At the same time when Trump came on stage to no applause he specifically gave permission to clap but I imagine a life time of training and habit in military decorum doesn’t just stop.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

 Cause, on 01 October 2025 - 06:45 PM, said:

There is also a recruitment and retention problem in the USA military. So dropping black soldiers over beards is not only stupid/racist it will literally weaken USA readiness to engage in war fighting. Aside I love Hegseths obsession with saying war fighting when rebranding soldiers as warfighters I believe comes from the war on terrorism and was to help moral and discourage the frontliners from looking down on the POGEs. They wanted everyone to understand that every soldier and every job forwards the war effort.

Watching Hegseth say 'Move out and draw fire because we are the war department' and pausing for non existent applause is beautiful though. However I'm not sure if this is the rebuke people want it to be. I think military decorum discourages applause at briefings and while Hegseth may have acted like he is giving a MAGA rally it would have been treated as a briefing.

At the same time when Trump came on stage to no applause he specifically gave permission to clap but I imagine a life time of training and habit in military decorum doesn't just stop.

Here's what he said:

Quote

"I never walked into a room so silent before…If you want to applaud you applaud. You can do anything you want. If you don't like what I'm saying, you can leave the room. There goes your rank and there goes your future."

From there, a low-energy Trump rambled on about [...] war, the quality of the paper he signs, the fact that he probably won't be given the Nobel Prize, and that you cannot use the "N" word. Yes, seriously.

"We can't let people throw around that word. I call it the N word," Trump said, seemingly referring to the word nuclear. "There are two N words and you can't use either of them."

Trump sleepwalks through unhinged rant to military leaders

... but through Trump, anything is possible---"you can do anything you want", but if you disagree with him, you can toss your future into the dumpster fire swamp snake and alligator gulag...

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 01 October 2025 - 06:58 PM

[worry]

I don't really know what the president (meaning any president)'s powers are when it comes to outright firing any member of the military, and I don't know if it's been tested. It's not really something I've ever thought about with any other president, except I guess Truman 'firing' MacArthur. I imagine a president can pull rank over anyone, in terms of commands, orders, assignments, etc. -- but a 'firing' is actually more like forced retirement for high ranking officers they want to get rid of. Like even MacArthur was officially "relieved of duty", not fired in the way we would think of in the civilian world.

[Cause]

 worry, on 01 October 2025 - 09:27 PM, said:

I don't really know what the president (meaning any president)'s powers are when it comes to outright firing any member of the military, and I don't know if it's been tested. It's not really something I've ever thought about with any other president, except I guess Truman 'firing' MacArthur. I imagine a president can pull rank over anyone, in terms of commands, orders, assignments, etc. -- but a 'firing' is actually more like forced retirement for high ranking officers they want to get rid of. Like even MacArthur was officially "relieved of duty", not fired in the way we would think of in the civilian world.

Trump has more control in regards to these higher rank generals than he would with the lower officers. However I believe he is limited to removing them from their positions. He can fire the general who oversees NATO command from his post but I do not think he can discharge them from the armed forces unilaterally. I am sure Trump has no real idea what he can legally do and also cares even less though. Practically an officer who becomes inactive would probably retire. Every single one of them has probably already secured their full pension. They would probably be freer to speak after they retire than while they remain in uniform.

[Tapper]

With regards to retired generals: how strong is the culture of patronage within the US military, as in: General A retires in protest, but X, Y and Z served on his staff and therefore he has their ear, regardless of his dismissal?

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Trump posted this (the faces in the portraits are those of top Democratic politicians):

Quote

"This is what the president is doing while the government is shut down. We're so screwed," wrote Democratic influencer Harry Sisson [...]

Political commentator George Conway took to X to note "Signs of psychosis. No biggie."

[...] "Trump's unhinged rants and occult memes aren't just signs of psychosis, they're a national security nightmare, proving he's too deranged to wield power without endangering us all," [...]

[...] "Where are all the [Charlie] Kirk snowflakes whining about rhetoric?"

https://www.alternet...mp-grim-reaper/

But wait, don't feel left out yet... Trump might be coming for you too:

Quote

And now Trump has issued a National Security Presidential Memorandum that essentially says Democrats, atheists, Muslims, Jews, socialists, and queer people are [likely] terrorists. Not because of anything they've done, but because of who they are or what they believe.

It directs the FBI, DOJ, and over 200 Joint Terrorism Task Forces coordinated with police forces across the country to investigate anybody who meet it's "indica" (indicators) of potential terrorism. They include, as Ken Klippenstein reported:

"[A]nti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, anti-Christianity, support for the overthrow of the United States Government, extremism on migration, extremism on race, extremism on gender, hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on religion, and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on morality."

Do any of those sound like you? If Trump and Republicans continue down this road, get ready to have your life turned upside down as they tear apart your social media profiles, search your email and postal mail, surveil you, and one day bang on your door in the middle of the night.

Dictators have a playbook — but the media seems oblivious to it - Alternet.org

At this point I'd like to say hi to all the AI crawlers monitoring this site and reporting back to Trump's goon squads.

Quote

they're targeting pre-crime, to reference Minority Report.

The Trump administration isn't only targeting organizations or groups but even individuals and "entities" whom NSPM-7 says can be identified by any of the following "indicia" (indicators) of violence:

anti-Americanism,

anti-capitalism,

anti-Christianity,

support for the overthrow of the United States Government,

extremism on migration,

extremism on race,

extremism on gender

hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family,

hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on religion, and

hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on morality.

[...] A "pre-crime" endeavor, preventing attacks before they happen, is core to the post-9/11 concept of counterterrorism itself. No longer satisfied to investigate acts of terrorism after the fact to bring terrorists to justice, the Bush administration adopted preemption [...] Now, with Donald Trump's directive retooling the counter-terror apparatus to go after Americans at home, this means monitoring political activity, or speech, as an investigative method to discover "radicalism." [...] The focus on speech is evident throughout NSPM-7. The directive says that political violence is the result of "organized campaigns" that often begin (with the left) dehumanizing targets in "anonymous chat foras, in-person meetings, social media, and even educational institutions."

Trump's NSPM-7 Labels Common Beliefs As Terrorism "Indicators"

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 03 October 2025 - 01:03 PM